Honors Student Grants
Attending NCUR in April? Visit the Honors Funding for NCUR webpage.
First-Year Honors Mentor Program Grant
Grants up to $250 (individual) or $500 (group) are available to support research expenses incurred by students participating in the First-Year Honors Mentor Program. Requests for funds are made jointly by student(s) and mentor.
Application deadline: Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Information & guidelines
Details on eligibility criteria, funding policies, and application and award procedures
Excel (.xls) file to be completed electronically and submitted via CyBox; additional instructions are provided on the form and in the information and guidelines
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Ivy College of Business
College of Design
College of Human Sciences
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Name, major
Faculty mentor: Name – Department
Project name:
Mentor grant recipients from previous years are listed in the Grant Recipient Archive
University Honors Program Grants
Grants of up to $750 are available to help cover project expenses for Honors capstone projects.
Application deadlines:
Fall: October 13 and November 10
Spring: February 9 and March 30
Information & guidelines
Details on eligibility criteria as well as funding, application, and award procedures
University Honors Program Grant application
This is an online application that routes through Qualtrics for electronic signatures
Ally Abel
Faculty mentor: Roxanne Ziman - AVC/Biomedical
Project name: 3D Models as a Tool for Learning Dogfish Shark Anatomy: An Analysis of Student Satisfaction
Adam Eichorn
Faculty mentor: Shan Jiang - Materials Science & Engineering
Project name: Influence of pH on Viscosity and Stability of BaTiO3 Nano Ink
Seth Harbecke
Faculty mentor: Kathleen Delate - Horticulture
Project name: Simple Sugar-Based Fertilizer Impacts on Corn Growth and Nutrient Content
Ashley Hipnar
Faculty mentor: Monica Haddad - Community and Regional Planning
Project name: From South to North: What Urban Areas are Doing to Address Climate Justice
Khanh Hoang
Faculty mentor: Kristin Rozier - Aerospace Engineering
Project name: Autonomous Flight for a Quadcopter Drone
Karly Jans
Faculty mentor: Michael Rentz - Natural Resource Ecology and Management
Project name: Investigating Job Satisfaction in Iowa Veterinary Clinics
Elizabeth Jones
Faculty mentor: Teresa Paschke - Art and Visual Culture
Project name: Feminine Heritage within Stitches
Gregory Ling
Faculty mentor: Nathan Neihart - Electrical and Computer Engineering
Project name: Compute Module Tester
Sierra McCoy
Faculty mentor: Billy Beck - Natural Resource Ecology and Management
Project name: Campus Trees of Iowa State
Diana Mulder
Faculty mentor: Leonor Leandro - Plant Pathology
Project name: Verification of a qPCR Assay for Detection of Phialophora gregata in varied Soybean Tissues and Brown stem rot suspect samples
Sydney Pantini
Faculty mentor: Sekar Raju - Management and Marketing
Project name: Warmth and Competence: A Comparison between Virtual Assistants and Humans
Matthew Pealer
Faculty mentor: Amy Erica Smith - Politcal Science
Project name: Examining the Relationship between Misinformation and Social Dominance Orientation
Lindsey Reyes
Faculty mentor: Raluca Lancu - Art and Visual Culture
Project name: On Moonlight's Edge: Book-making Project
Pauline Scribano
Faculty mentor: Kevin Schalinske - Food Science and Human Nutrition
Project name: Construction of Fire-Safe System for Bioelectric Control Methodology
Sura Smadi
Faculty mentor: Elizabeth Stegemoller - Kinesiology
Project name: Salivary Cortisol Levels in Marching Band Members Before and After Rehearsal
Jack Strait
Faculty mentor: Andrew Gleeson - Architecture
Project name: Abstraction and Interactivity: An Exercise in Design Representation
Previous UHP grant recipients are listed in the Grant Recipient Archive
Stewart Research Award
Grants of up to $750 are available to help cover project expenses for Honors capstone and other research projects. Preference for these awards will be given to research that is likely to result in a student-authored or coauthored publication.
Application deadlines:
Fall: November 10
Spring (funds permitting): February 9
Information & guidelines
Details on eligibility criteria as well as funding, application, and award procedures
Stewart Research Award application
This is an online application that routes through Qualtrics for electronic signatures.
Bennet Fate
Faculty mentor: Leonor Leandro - Plant Pathology
Project name: Investigating the Effect of Different Biochars in Controlling Seedling Root Rot in Soybean Plants Inoculated with Pythium sylvaticum
Arann Raven
Faculty mentor: Matthew Hill - World Languages and Cultures
Project name: An Examination of the Research History of Mylohyus nasutus
Morgan Simms
Faculty mentor: Rachel Eike - Apparel, Events, and Hospitality Management
Project name: Sustainability in Textiles
Previous Stewart Award recipients are listed in the Grant Recipient Archive
Honors Student Enrichment Grant
Grants of up to $300 are available to help cover travel and/or registration expenses to present research at a national conference, or expenses related to the preparation of a manuscript for publication. Preference will be given to students presenting at an academic or professional conference.
Applying for financial support to attend NCUR 2023?
Go to NCUR Funding for more information.
Do not submit a Student Enrichment Grant application.
Application deadlines:
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, funds permitting. Once all funding has been allocated for a given academic semester, the website will be updated and no additional applications will be accepted until the following semester.
Information & guidelines
Details on eligibility criteria as well as funding, application, and award procedures
Student Enrichment Grant application
This is an online application that routes through Qualtrics for electronic signatures
Morgan Simms, Interior Design - Attending the Fashion and Circular Economy Symposium in Fort Collins, CO
Faculty mentor: Rachel Eike
Project name: Sustainability in Textiles
Darcy Bonds, Horticulture - Attending ASABE annual conference in Houston, TX
Faculty mentor: Jacek Koziel
Project name: Can soil smell tell us more soil condition and soil health-promoting practices?
Jazmine Edwards, Event Management - Attending Tourism, Hospitality, and Event Conferences for Researchers, Educators, Practitioners, and Students
Faculty mentor: SoJung Lee
Project name: Club members' Value Co-creation: Group Identity, Psychological Ownership, and Satisfaction
Julianna Hernandez, Animal Exology - Attending National Conference on Undergraduate Research
Faculty mentor: Amy Toth
Project name: How Does Octopamine Affect Aggression in the Social Wasp Polistes metricus?
Jace Leininger, Kinesiology and Health - Attending the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity conference
Faculty mentor: Spyridoula Vazou
Project name: Childhood Physical Activity Experiences and Affective Attitudes During Adulthood
Ben Litterer, Data Science - Travel for 2022 Biophysical Society Annual Meeting
Faculty mentor: Robert Jernigan
Project name: An Improved Computational Approach to Predict HIV Protein Functions
Benji Pellizzari, Business Analytics - Attending Tourism, Hospitality, and Event Conferences for Researchers, Educators, Practitioners, and Students
Faculty mentor: SoJung Lee
Project name: Club members' Value Co-creation: Group Identity, Psychological Ownership, and Satisfaction
Danielle Robinson, English - Attending National Conference on Undergraduate Research
Faculty mentor: Linda Shenk
Project name: Co-Creating Knowledge: How Narrative Gaps Give Space For Collaborative Play
Isaiah Sents, Apparel, Merchandising & Design - Fees associated with the publication of his co-authored article in the journal FASHION THEORY
Faculty mentor: Kelly Reddy-Best
Project name: Des Moines Gay Men's Chorus, Queer Spaces, Collective Styles, and Activist Dress, 1984-Present
Henry Thomas, Chemistry - Attending National Conference on Undergraduate Research
Faculty mentor: Wenyu Huang
Project name: Method Optimization for the Synthesis of Novel Covalent Organic Frameworks
Previous Student Enrichment Grant recipients are listed in the Grant Recipient Archive
Dr. Robert M. Melampy Grant
A Grant of up to $500 is available to students in Animal Science to help cover project expenses related to the research they are doing within their field of study. Preference will be given to students participating in the First-Year Honors Mentor Program, and only one Melampy Grant will be awarded each year for a Spring or Summer term. View a sample application here.
Application deadline: Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Online application form: Melampy Grant application
This is an online application that routes through Qualtrics for electronic signatures.
Rebecca Burns
Rebecca Burns has been involved with the Honors Program since her freshman year at Iowa State. Her interest in undergraduate research began when she had the opportunity to participate in the First-Year Honors Mentor Program. She assisted in a study using a group of antibiotic-resistant bacteria called ESKAPE pathogens under the mentorship of Dr. Bryan Bellaire and Nathan Peroutka-Bigus in the Veterinary Microbiology department.
In Spring 2021, Rebecca began conducting undergraduate research in Dairy Cattle Nutrition under the mentorship of Dr. Ranga Appuhamy. Her projects with Dr. Appuhamy have included studying the effect of zinc on anabolic signals in bovine mammary epithelial cells and her current Capstone project, where she is evaluating the role of energy substrate availability on the intestinal epithelial integrity of newborn calves. The findings of this study will help develop nutritional strategies to improve the gut and general health of young calves while replacing antibiotic use.
Previous Melampy Award recipients are listed in the Grant Recipient Archive
Chi-Wai Ho Principles of Community Awards
Grants are available to help fund research or activities that promote understanding and mutual respect among people of different races, backgrounds, and experiences. Projects that have tangible or measurable results and have the potential for a recurring impact will be prioritized.
Application deadlines:
Fall: October 13 and November 10
Spring: Febuary 9 and March 30
Information & guidelines
Details on eligibility criteria as well as funding, application, and award procedures
Application
This is an online application that routes through Qualtrics for electronic signatures.
Atlas Cahill, Rebecca Dinslage, Katelyn Squiers
Faculty mentor: Gloria Betcher - English
Project name: "Mapping the BIPOC ISC Student Housing Experience to 1950
Grant Recipient Archive
First-Year Honors Mentor Program Grant (2019– )
University Honors Program Grant (2005– )
Stewart Research Award (2005– )
Honors Student Enrichment Grant (2018– )
Dr. Robert M. Melampy Grant (2019– )
Chi-Wai Ho Principles of Community Award